BAY CITY, MI — A judge has dismissed felony charges against a Bay City man they said posted a salacious ad on Craigslist targeting his daughter’s boyfriend.

At a scheduled hearing Thursday, Feb. 28, Bay County Chief District Judge Timothy J. Kelly granted the prosecution's request to dismiss without prejudice single counts of unauthorized access to a computer and unlawful posting of a message in the case of Leroi D. Kocsis. The former charge is punishable by up to five years in prison, while the latter carries a maximum two-year sentence.

Dismissing counts without prejudice, as opposed to with prejudice, means prosecutors could refile the charges if they desire.

No testimony was presented in the hearing, according to defense attorney Bruce K. Mannikko.

The Times was unable to reach prosecutors for comment on what prompted the charges' dismissal.

Kocsis, 35, still faces two misdemeanor counts, specifically, malicious use of telecommunications services and domestic violence, second offense. He is scheduled for trial on those counts before Kelly on April 11.

Bay City police began investigating Kocsis on Dec. 27, when they responded to a threats complaint reported by 18-year-old Matthew Heeke. The teen told officers he was dating Kocsis’ 15-year-old daughter, to Kocsis’ disapproval.

Heeke said he and his girlfriend went to a movie on Dec. 26, during which Kocsis text messaged his daughter, demanding she come home. Heeke told police he took his girlfriend to her mother’s home and shortly thereafter received a text message that read, in part, “This is (your girlfriend)’s dad n when I find u Im kicking you (expletive) I told u about me n you didn’t listen.”

The following morning, Heeke received more than 100 responses to an ad that had appeared on Craigslist. The message stated, “Visitin friend but she gone n need vacation memories-w4m-18,” along with Heeke’s cellphone number, court records show. Police allege Kocsis authored the ad.

In Internet patois, “W4m” stands for “woman looking for a man.”

Heeke said his father also found a threatening note on his truck which he was left by Kocsis.

Investigators spoke with Kocsis’ daughter, who told them that the night of Dec. 26, her father took her cellular phone and demanded her Facebook password. The teen told police her father then slapped her, sat on her, called her a whore and said he never wanted to see her again before shoving her outside without a coat.

In a previous MLive article covering Kocsis’ case, a reader claiming to be Kocsis left comments stating he did not sit on or assault his daughter and that he did not post anything on Craigslist.

The commenter identifying himself as Kocsis also said he found sexually suggestive text messages exchanged between Heeke and his daughter.